


Outside/Inside

by DarknessAroundUs



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Adopted Children, Domestic, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, POV Outsider, Southside Serpent Betty Cooper, Southside Serpent Jughead Jones, Writer Jughead Jones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 05:31:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16738036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessAroundUs/pseuds/DarknessAroundUs
Summary: From the outside looking in, from the inside looking out. Five situations from the perspective of strangers, five situations from the perspective of Betty and Jughead.





	1. Outside

**Author's Note:**

> I am super grateful to [squids](https://archiveofourown.org/users/squids/pseuds/squids) for doing a terrific job beta-ing this work.

Mathew Thompson watches children from his front porch. When he phrases it that way it sounds creepy. Mathew does not watch children in a creepy way, but he’s old and bored. There isn’t much else to do. Elm Street doesn’t have a lot going on, even in the summer.

There is the occasional man fixing his car or teenager mowing the lawn, but the only consistent people he has to watch are children. Two decades ago, there were more children on Elm, the street seemed overflowing with them, but Matthew barely noticed them back then. He was too busy with work. He ran a café downtown that kept him on his feet all day.

Now Matthew has someone who comes to his house every day for four hours because he can’t use his feet at all. Old age has not been kind to him. But there are still children to watch, although only three actually live on the street.

Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper are nine years old, and Polly Cooper is eleven, although Polly spends even the sunny days inside now. Most days he watches Archie and Betty play with a dark haired boy who doesn’t live on their street, and whose name Mathew doesn’t know. Because Mathew doesn’t know the name of the boy, and because the boy always wears a crown beanie, Mathew calls him Crown in his head. He’s never actually talked to any of these kids, only their parents.

Archie, Betty, and Crown spend most of the summer chasing each other with wooden swords and water guns. Sometimes, they draw on the sidewalk with chalk, other times they rest on the front lawn. Crown and Betty reading, Archie playing on his Gameboy.

Most of the summer has passed like that, the children all smiles together, running from one yard to another, till one afternoon Crown is sitting all alone on Betty’s porch.

Matthew wishes he could tell Crown that the Cooper’s left with a fully packed car earlier that morning, but that would just freak the boy out. Instead, Matthew waits and watches. Crown stays for hours. Archie is away too and the porch must be boring without books, but the Crown is patient.

Eventually a woman comes. It looks like Crown’s mother. She has a smaller child wedged under her arm like a thing, and not a person. There’s yelling for a few minutes and then they all leave together. Crown keeps looking back at the house like any minute the door will open and Betty will be revealed.

Crown stops halfway down the sidewalk, refusing to go further. The child in Crown’s mothers arm wails so loudly that Matthew can hear her inside his house. The mother pulls her other arm back and slaps Crown across the face.

For Matthew the hardest part of watching this is how Crown responds. He doesn’t cry out or protest further, he doesn’t look shocked. Instead, he focuses his gaze down at the sidewalk and slowly starts walking home with his mother, never looking up.

\---

 

  
Jeanette Smith usually loathes being given on the job training by a younger person, yet when Pop Tate introduces Jeanette to Betty Cooper, who is a good twenty years her junior, she finds herself liking the girl right away.

Betty is an organized and excellent waitress. Jeannette may have had fifteen years of experience delivering plates to tables, but none of that experience was at Pop’s. At Pop’s, customers expect their server to know them, by name at least. But a couple of details about their families and hobbies help, too.

Betty’s training of Jeannette includes lots of snippets of information about the regulars. By the end of the first week, Jeannette knows who the cat ladies are, where Sheriff Keller sits, and which of the regulars don’t want to be acknowledged by name. 

On the first day Betty has off, three young men enter, wearing leather jackets, a serpent embroidered on the back. Jeannette has lived in Riverdale long enough to know about them. She moved to Riverdale two years ago, right before the Riverdale Register folded. The last article she remembers reading in the paper was about how The Serpent’s brought down the Southside.

Still Jeannette has to serve them. Bob Dylan got it right when he wrote “you're gonna have to serve somebody,” although this time it was clearly not the Lord. Jeannette turned her back to the table and crossed herself quickly, before shuffling over to their table.

“What would you like to order tonight?” Jeannette asks, in what she likes to think of as her most confident voice. One of the men, the one with a gray beanie on his head looks at her, reads her name tag and then smiles warmly, as if he recognizes her. She feels a little apprehensive, but the man orders and the moment passes.

All three men in the booth are polite to her when she drops off their burgers, but she keeps an eye on their table. At one point one of them, takes out a switch blade and flicks it in and out, but the boy in the beanie spots it, and stops him with a scowl. Otherwise, they just talk about girls and video games, nothing scandalous. It’s a busy night, so while she keeps one eye on them for any funny business, she has a lot to do otherwise.

It’s not a good night, a toddler spills ice cream on her, a teenager screams at her and an older couple leave without paying. The Serpent's tip well, and the one with the beanie talks with Pop for a few minutes before exiting.

A few nights later they're back. Betty’s on and their table is in her section. Jeannette’s walking by the table when all of a sudden one of The Serpents, the one with the beanie, reaches out of the booth and puts a hand casually on Betty’s thigh.

Jeannette’s had such things and worse happen to her on the job, but she feels maternal anger run through her, and before she can stop herself she’s at the table, pushing the beanie boy back in the booth.

“What the fuck?” He says, a look of shock on his face.

“Keep your hands to yourself.” Jeannette says, forcing her face to be calm. That boy could have a weapon for all she knows. Jeannette’s nerves feel raw, overpowering. Then the entire table around her, including Betty dissolves into wild laughter.

“Oh, Jeannette!” Betty says, pulling her into a warm hug “That is my boyfriend, Jughead.”

Jeannette doesn’t know what to do with that information, the odd name in itself feels like a bit of a puzzle, not to mention the idea that Betty is dating a Serpent.

Jughead stands up and extends his hand to Jeannette “Thank you so much for looking out for my girl.” The smile on his face is genuinely warm. 

\--- 

 

Clara Leon is at the park with Joshua and Leah, when the man with a black eye shows up. Clara is fifteen and this is one of her first babysitting gigs. It’s an easy one. Joshua is three and loves the swings, and Leah at five is obsessed with slides.

They’ve been at the park for half an hour when the man shows up. He’s got longish black hair and blue eyes. He walks past them and Clara sees that he has a Serpents jacket on, the one with a crown on it. She knows who he is. He’s Jughead Jones. Jughead sits down at a bench on the other side of the swing set and gets his cell phone out and starts to fiddle with it.

Joshua keeps swinging. He doesn’t care that someone else is at the park. He would only care if he spotted a real snake, and that would make him very happy. Leah is old enough to look at Clara nervously. Clara sends her a big smile and a nod, sending a very clear message – everything is fine. Leah starts climbing up the slide.

Clara is Southside born and raised, even if she pretends she’s not at school. Northsiders might talk all sorts of shit about Serpents, but Southsiders know better. The Serpents support local charities, and they run a local business, and while they do illegal stuff, it’s nothing very illegal and it never affects the Southside in a detrimental way. Not like the dumb Northside jocks who smash mailboxes and tag businesses with graffiti.

She’s not scared of Jughead, but she is curious. She’s heard a lot about him, some good, some bad, all of it secondhand, none of it particularly trustworthy. They’ve never met, but here he is hanging out on the Northside at 10 AM on a Saturday. She wants to know what he’s even doing up.

He looks nervous. Restless a bit. His foot tapping on the pavement. A few minutes later, a blonde wearing a denim jacket walks up with two red haired twins, a little older than Leah. The twins attack the playground as if they haven’t seen one in weeks and they’re treating the see-saw in a way that’s only going to end in blood if it lasts much longer.

The blonde isn’t looking at them though. Clara’s parents are loud fighters, they scream even in public. Jughead and the blonde girl appear to have mastered the art of whisper shouting. Clara can’t hear even a word of what their saying but their expressions convey nothing but anger.

Clara’s a bit of an expert on anger, it comes with the territory of living in her family, and she knows this isn’t going to escalate into violence. She’s not shocked when Jughead stomps off, but she does feel a moment of surprise when she realizes the blonde isn’t crying. Her face is dry as she goes over to the twins, gets them both off the see-saw and gets them going on the swings instead.

The blonde turns to Clara at some point and says “Nice day isn’t it?” and if Clara hadn’t just seen her whisper shouting at Jughead fucking Jones, she would have believed that the blonde was having a great day. Was she a psychopath or just one of those people who compartmentalizes everything?

Clara nods her agreement, nervously. This must be Jughead’s girlfriend. All that she knows about her is that she’s the daughter of the Black Hood and an all around badass, although she doesn’t look like one. She looks more Northside than Clara, even though Clara’s put a lot of effort in today. 

They don’t talk again. Clara leaves soon after, Joshua heavy in her arms and Leah dragging her feet behind them. 

 

\---

Robert Loew says goodbye to the interviewee with a hand shake. The man had sounded so impressive on paper. Like the right person for Mayhem Publishing. He had an MFA and editorial experience at an appropriately pretentious literary journal.

But that candidate was all wrong for them. He spoke dismissively of Raymond Chandler and freely admitted he hadn’t read a mystery novel in five years. Mayhem exclusively publishes fiction with a literary bent in the crime and mystery genres. This candidate didn’t even believe crime fiction could be literary.

Robert has only one more candidate to speak to today, and if this man doesn’t pan out, it will be back to the drawing board. Mayhem Publishing moved to Greendale three years ago from Manhattan, and while it has really helped with their overhead, it has made it a lot harder to find employees.

This candidate is not as impressive on paper. He’s a writer himself. He has editorial experience but only from working for the literary journal at the community college in Riverdale. The only reason they’re even considering hiring him is that he mentioned in his cover letter that of the books they’d published, one was a personal favorite.

This candidate has a completely ridiculous name and Robert feels more than a little absurd when he says it out loud into the hall where a young man with dark hair looks up.

He isn’t wearing the stereotypical interview attire. Instead, he’s wearing a forest green wool sweater and a pair of jeans. He holds a leather jacket in one arm, a worn satchel slung across the other.

“Come in.” Robert gestures to the chair at the far side of the desk. “Please sit, tell me a little about yourself”

“I never know how to answer that question.” Jughead replies, meeting Robert's gaze. Robert thinks about his answer for a second before coming up with a better question, because Jughead is right. It’s not a very good one. Too broad to evoke a quality answer.

“Tell me the three most important facts about yourself. Not in regards to the job, just in general.”

“That’s a hell of a question.” Jughead says, he’s smiling now. It’s a soft smile. Most interviewees are nervous, Jughead clearly isn’t. He stays quiet for a few minutes and Robert wonders if it’s because he’s not going to answer the question or because he’s thinking deeply about it.

“One, I was born and raised in a trailer park, with a family that splintered into nothingness before I graduated high school. My dad was an alcoholic, a charming fuck-up. He led a gang for a long time, and is in prison now, has been since my junior year of high school, which would have been OK if my mother hadn’t left with my little sister my freshman year.” Jughead took a deep breath. 

“You would probably be correct in assuming that I have a hell of a lot of abandonment issues except for important fact number two. I’ve been with the same girl since sophomore year of high school. Her name is Betty Cooper and she is tough, smart, and equally good with a pencil and a wrench. She’s the person I trust most in the world.”

Robert watched as Jughead readjusted in his seat as he continued.

“Which brings me to important fact number three. I’m a writer, and I’ve never not been a writer. When things were shitty with my family I wrote, when things were good with my girl, I wrote. I can’t not write. And part of being a writer, even a half decent one, is learning how to edit. And I have. I’m on the sixth draft of my second novel and the fifteenth of my first. I’ve also edited others work, largely freelance, mostly non-mystery books, but some literary.”

Jughead falls silent. as if that was the most he’s ever said at one time in his life, and it certainly covers a lot of ground. Robert doesn’t really know where to start. He hadn’t expected such a candid answer, particularly from someone who clearly didn’t like saying anything personal about himself.

“So you went to Riverdale Community College, and then finished your degree online through Ohio State, can I ask you why?”

“Financial reasons. It’s kind of a long story, but we have two dependents, not children.” Jughead says, with a sigh. The we clearly implying the girlfriend. Robert’s a little intrigued. “I mean they are children, but they aren’t ours, not biologically anyway.” This is unexpected. “It makes it a lot harder to move. My girlfriend has a good job, working remotely as a researcher for an investment firm. But moving all of us for my education was not really an option worth considering.” Jughead shrugs.

“So you’re born and raised in Riverdale?” Robert asks.

“On the Southside. I can tell you’re not from around here.”

“No.” Robert shakes his head. “The co-founder of Mayhem, Lucas Pearl is. We were getting priced out of Manhattan. I’m still getting the lay of the land, and adjusting.” He has heard of the Southside of course, it’s the bad part of town, and thus the poor one.

Robert hands Jughead a three page long excerpt of one of the new manuscripts they’re working on. Usually he doesn’t give out this test until the second interview, but he has a feeling that Jughead’s going to do a good job, so why not get this over with now.

“That is from one of the novels we’re editing right now. I want you to copy and content edit it for the next fifteen minutes. I’ll go get us coffee. How do you take yours.”

“Black.”

“Like your soul?” Robert jokes.

“No, like my hair.” Jughead says with a wink. Robert finds himself rooting for Jughead as he walks to the coffee shop. He’d like to work with someone he actually got along with. He thought he could get along with Jughead.

When he returns to the office, Jughead is still bent over the page, but he looks up when Robert enters. “Is my time up?”

Robert nods and hands Jughead his coffee in exchange for the manuscript page. He goes over the pages. They look good, really good. The minor errors seem to be caught and there are some insightful, though hard to read notes in the margins.

“What do you mean by this?” Robert says, pointing to one of the notes on the last page “You say that the juvenile records would not show up in a background check? Is that true, because that’s a major plot point. It’s how they end up catching the killer.”

Jughead flushes red. “Background checks won’t reveal any Juvie records.”

Robert looks at the uneasy expression on Jughead’s face. There is an obvious follow up question he should ask but somehow he can’t bring himself to ask it, so it’s a relief when Jughead blurts out “I have a juvie record. I ended up there twice. The first time was absurd and in middle school. It involved an accidental fire that caused no damage. The second I will fully admit to, it was my fault, and a bad decision. I got caught dealing drugs. Before you ask, I never used, and it was a foolish move on my part. I’ll show myself out now.”

Jughead stands up, grabs his coat and satchel and nods to Robert on his way out. Robert is speechless. 

\--- 

 

Sarah Green is running around with a green extra small t-shirt, trying to find the person who had asked her for it five minutes ago. She could swear they were a petite brunette, but now she can’t see anyone who matches that description. The Gap is crowded with customers, but none of them look like they’re looking for the shirt.

The mall is empty for most of the year now, but around Christmas between shopping for gifts and the Santa ensconced in his throne, the mall is packed.

“Excuse me, do you know where the scarfs are?” A tall man with black hair, a little bit of gray streaked through it, even though he still looked young, asks.

“Right there.” Sarah points at the other end of the store.

“Thank you.” He says, heading towards the scarves, two redhead teens, clearly twins, follow him, as well as a blonde around his age. They don’t look like a family. The two adults look too young to have kids that age, and the teens look nothing like either of them.

If Sarah had more time, she would try to hypothesize their relationship to each other, that’s a game she plays when she’s bored at work, but she’s too busy. Thankfully, the petite brunette finally finds her and takes the green shirt off her hands.

After helping three more customers, it’s time for her break. Sarah heads out to Starbucks to get coffee that costs as much as she makes in half an hour, but the amount of energy she will derive from the whipped cream on top of it will make it worthwhile.

She has pre-ordered the coffee on her phone, so it is already waiting for her at the end of the bar in all its creamy glory. She picks it up and heads out into the food court. She has some time to kill before she has to go back to work and she enjoys the people watching that the holidays bring.

She watches a family with a young baby for a bit before they disappear into Macy’s, then she notices the two red haired twins pass.

They’re talking adamantly about something called a Jughead, and then she realizes it’s a someone not a something because they are buying a present for him (or her, or them– Sarah’s not one to pass judgement). She’s only a few years older than they are, but she feels a lot older than them because she’s working here and they are only shoppers. They also disappear into the Macy’s.

Some teens start shouting to the left of Sarah and she watches them yell at each other for a few minutes before they stalk off in different directions. Sarah finds herself looking at an older lady in a peacoat who is sitting at a table and reading a book (an actual book, not an eReader). She looks so sad.

Sarah watches as someone walks behind the lady, cutting off Sarah’s view for a second, and when Sarah can see her again, Sarah notices the ladies purse is gone. Sarah stands up. She can’t see who exactly stole the purse, but she looks for mall security. There is almost always someone around this time of year. 

The black haired man from earlier runs past her and has someone wearing a very puffy coat pinned to the ground in seconds.

It’s the thief, the old ladies purse has fallen out of their hand during the scuffle and it is flung onto the floor. Sarah goes to retrieve it but the blonde already has it in her hands. Mall security comes then, and they seem to be sorting everything out when Sarah checks the time and she’s already late for work.


	2. Chapter 2

The car pulls into the driveway and Betty opens her door as fast as she can. She wants out. She needs to see Archie and Jughead. The emergency trip to say goodbye to Grandpa Cooper had taken a week, and she hadn’t been able to warn anyone before she left.

She wonders what Jughead and Archie have done in her absence. Have they slayed the dragons? Maybe talked Mr. Andrews into getting them milkshakes at Pop’s? It’s raining, hard angry torrents, so she’s not surprised that no one is out-front. She runs across the lawn to Archie’s door her mom screaming after her “Elizabeth, come back here this instant.”

Instead of listening, she rings Archie’s doorbell. She can hear the chime, ding-dong over and over again inside of the house. Vegas starts barking and then she can hear the sound of fast feet on stairs.

The door swings open to reveal two bright eyed faces. “You’re back!” Jughead says, wrapping her in a hug. Jughead is not usually one for hugs and Betty counts herself lucky.

“I told you she was coming back.” Archie says, shaking his head. He hugs her too, once Jughead lets go.

“I finally read A Wrinkle in Time, and I wanted to talk to you about it and you were gone.” Jughead says.

“Sorry! My grandpa died. We went to Montana.” Betty says with a shrug. 

She hadn’t known Grandpa Cooper very well. Everyone else around her seemed upset, and so she knew she should be, but she wasn’t. Her only memories of him were hazy. They weren’t bad, or good, just fuzzy recollections of waiting for meals and watching TV.

“I’m sorry, Betty.” Archie says. 

“It’s ok.” Betty says with a shrug. “I missed you guys. I’m sorry we left like that. What did you think of A Wrinkle in Time?”

“It was so good. Is it okay if I identify with Meg Murray more than Calvin?” Jughead asks. Betty’s inside now, out of the rain. She can’t hear her mom. Alice probably gave up on her and started unpacking. She’ll be angry at Betty later, but that’s okay.

“Of course! Meg’s the best. Calvin is just okay.” Betty says, glancing at Archie who has no clue what they’re talking about. “Although, he does remind me of a certain someone with the same hair color.”

Jughead laughs. “Totally.”

Archie looks back and forth between them. “Are you guys comparing me to a fictional character?”

“No,” they both say in unison.

“Jinx!” Archie shouts.

There is a cry from upstairs. “Who's that?” Betty asks.

“Jellybean. She’s upstairs with my mom.” Archie says with a shrug.

Betty desperately wants to ask why, but the shame filled look on Jughead’s face prevents her. Later that night, after her mom has talked to Archie’s mom, Alice won’t be able to shut up about how someone reported Gladys’s abusive behavior to Child Protective Services, and now both of the kids are stuck at the Andrews’ for the foreseeable future.

Betty decides it doesn’t matter why Jughead or Jellybean are there and she spends the last two weeks of summer vacation spending as much time as she can with them. She even finds an old trike for Jelly in the garage and teaches her how to ride it up and down the block.

It’s a temporary arrangement. By the end of September, the Andrews household is down to three members again, but when Betty thinks of her childhood, it’s usually those weeks that spring to mind, glowing warmly with nostalgia.

 

\-- 

Now that Betty works at Pop’s and, has for over three years, Jughead finds himself spending less time there. He loves seeing Betty there, he really does. But most nights she’s too busy with other customers to spend time with him, there was nothing beyond fleeting glances of longing and the occasional kiss.

Plus, he knows that Betty finds it distracting to see him there, that it’s easier on her if he isn’t there all the time. She would never tell him to go home, to give her space, but she doesn’t have to, because he figured it out on his own.

Besides, he’s busier now. Running the Serpents is time consuming, as is walking the line between legal and illegal, being caught or not. He has shifts at the Wyrm four nights a week and that takes time, too.

Not to mention that he loves the fact that Betty can now come home to him. They moved in together last year after an Alice Cooper screaming match for the ages. They’re both nineteen now. He likes waiting for her on the sofa so they can snuggle in for an episode or two of Parks & Rec before going to bed. When he’s the one working late, she waits for him with a book. Something they’ve both read before, something that he wouldn’t mind hearing again.

Still he goes to Pop’s on nights she has off if she’s busy with Veronica. Or he goes if she’s working and he really wants to spend some time with her. Or if Sweat Pea talks him into it. He likes watching her at work.

He’s at Pop’s tonight with Sweet Pea and Fangs, Betty’s on shift. She looks exhausted but beautiful, her hair up in a bun as it always is while working. He is lucky now that she’s out from under Alice’s thumb because at home she wears her hair down in loose waves. She gets fewer headaches this way.

Sweet Pea is joking about the new recruit, and Fangs is trying to defend the boy, Jughead suspects a crush is involved when Betty arrives at their table. She offers Pea and Fangs a nod.

“It’s good to see you two.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while.” Pea says with a smile and a wink. It had been less than twenty-four hours since they were all swimming in the quarry together.

“You look tired.” Fangs says, softly. If Pea is the tease, Fangs is the listener.

“That’s probably because I am.” Betty sighs. 

Jughead can see it now, the exhaustion clinging to her. He wishes he could do something about it. He doesn’t even think of what he’s doing when he’s doing it. They’ve spent so much time together now, that it’s just second nature to touch her.

He presses his hand gently against the front of her thigh. She’s wearing jeans. Nothing about it feels intimate.

Before he can think of anything to say to her, someone is slamming into his side and pushing him back into the booth.

“What the fuck?” He says. He doesn’t know whether to be angry or confused when he sees who pushed him. 

It’s the new waitress, Jeannette. She’s older with graying hair and a thick waist. Betty’s told him a lot about her. She’s a quick learner and a good listener. Betty adores her, she makes the shifts easier, and the long hours more manageable.

“Keep your hands to yourself.” Jeannette says, her face red with anger, but now all Jughead can feel is relief. This is a misunderstanding. A terrible, ridiculous misunderstanding. Betty starts laughing first, and everyone but Jeannette follows suit.

“Oh, Jeannette!” Betty says, pulling the older woman into a hug “That is my boyfriend, Jughead.”

Jeannette blushes, and shakes her head in embarrassment. She made the wrong assumption but she was there to defend Betty, and if there was a quality that Jughead truly admired in another, it was that. Jughead himself had been on the wrong end of defending Betty more times than he could count.

He stands up and extends his hand to Jeannette “Thank you so much for looking out for my girl.” She smiles, and he can almost see a younger version of Jeannette there for a second. She reaches out and shakes his hand.

The moment is over, both women go back to work and eventually burgers, fries and milkshakes arrive for the guys even though they never ended up ordering anything. It is a good evening. Fangs and Sweet Pea leave at some point, so Jughead gets his laptop out and takes advantage of the endless refills before walking Betty home at midnight. The sky is full of stars above them, he feels like he can barely breath.

\---

Betty has the twins today. The farm dissolved into nothingness a few weeks ago, the land and buildings were foreclosed on, the leader ousted in a scandal, the occupants forced to return home. Alice was long gone to the West Coast, and the house on Elm Street had been sold. Which means that Polly couldn’t move back in there even if she wanted to.

The trailer wasn’t built for five, so Betty had found herself renting another one. That meant she wouldn’t be putting anything in her savings account for the foreseeable future. The idea was that Polly would stay there with the twins while Betty and Jughead continued living in the old Jones trailer.

It didn’t work out that way. Polly was hooked on opiates, she had been for a while. Jughead was a former drug dealer, the child of addicts himself. He had a lot of experience with these types of situations. Betty did not. This was all new to her.

So Betty’s spent the last week in Polly’s trailer looking after the twins and trying to prevent Polly from overdosing. She still has to work at Pop’s and do the occasional favor for the Serpents. She feels overwhelmed.

Betty parks the car in front of Bishop Park on the Northside of town, not far from where she used to live, where Fred still lives. Archie’s long gone to college now. The twins get out of their seats and they make a mad dash towards the park. It’s one of the better one’s in the area. There’s six swings and four slides, monkey bars, and a see-saw. Dag and Juni need to get their energy out somehow.

Jughead’s waiting for her in the park. She can see him on the other end, sitting on a bench, checking his phone. She told him not to meet her here. For the first time in the last decade they have gone days without seeing each other.

They haven’t broken up, they’re not separated, they’re just stressed, that’s what Betty keeps telling herself. This is a stressful time. They’ll work through it. They always have before. He looks up from his phone and when he sees her, he smiles for a second, and then he seems to remember where they are in terms of their relationship and his expression tightens.

The twins are on the see-saw now, and it is shaking wildly but Betty can’t bring herself to intervene. She wants to go to Jughead, be held by him, for everything to be better. But instead she snaps at him, as quietly as she can “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I came to see you,” he says.

“Okay.”

“I want you to move back into our trailer.”

“Jug, you know I can’t, not yet. When things stabilize then I will.”

“And when will that be?”

“I can’t leave the kids with Polly.”

“They’re not your kids, they’re not our kids.” He’s not being loud about it, but it’s clear how angry he is with her, it’s written all over his face.

“And you would say that if this was Jelly?” Betty bites back. Jelly had lived with them for the summer before college. Betty hadn’t minded. Jelly was funny, and essentially fully grown. Juni and Dag were not.

Jughead didn’t respond. Instead, he looked at the kids in the park, along with Juni and Dag there were two kids with dark brown hair running around. If she and Jughead ever had kids, they would look a lot more like those stranger’s kids than Juni and Dag. She suspected that Jughead was thinking the same thing because he sighed.

“I love you. I just can’t keep living like this.” There was still anger there, but the primary emotion was exhaustion.

“Me neither.” Betty knows they weren’t going to solve this now, probably not for a while.

“I’ve got to go.”

Betty nods. Every weekend at the same time he visits his dad in prison. She’s sure it’s that time now. “I love you.” She says, and he walks away.

She wants to cry. But the voice of Alice Cooper in her head, the one she’s tried so hard to get rid of, won’t let her.

Later that night in the trailer, while she watches Polly sleep off whatever drug she’s on, she cries. The kids are asleep, too. No one is there to see her. The next morning, she takes her savings and signs Polly into rehab, and prays to whoever is up there, that this will be it.

 

\---

 

Jughead is bent over the page, debating whether or not he should scribble out a note. He hears Robert enter and he looks up “Is my time up?”.

Robert reaches for the manuscript pages while Jughead grabs the coffee cup. Jughead takes a nervous gulp. Robert reviews his notes and Jughead can’t help but feel jittery with nerves. He looks out the window at the street view. It’s still early fall, his favorite time of year. He resists the urge to get his cell phone out and text Betty. She’s waiting in a café down the street, the very same one Robert just picked up coffee from.

“What do you mean by this?” Robert says, and he points to the note Jughead had debated blacking out a minute before. “You say that the juvenile records would not show up in a background check? Is that true, because that’s a major plot point. It’s how they end up catching the killer.”

Jughead feels his whole body flush. When he was in charge of the Serpents, he was good at lying. Back then, he could have kept his cool throughout all this. Now though, he was softer, it was a deliberate choice on his part, but it often worked to his detriment. Besides, he was really lucky not to have a record as an adult, he certainly committed crimes as one. “Background checks won’t reveal juvie records.”

Jughead can tell by Robert’s expression that he’s internally debating whether or not to ask the obvious follow up question. Either way though, Jughead isn’t going to get this job, which frankly was a long shot anyhow. So, Jughead takes a deep breath and says “I have a juvie record. I ended up there twice. The first time was absurd, and in middle school. It involved an accidental fire that caused no damage. The second I will fully admit to. It was my fault, and a bad decision. I got caught dealing drugs. Before you ask, I never used, and it was a foolish move on my part. I’ll show myself out now.”

Jughead stands up, grabs his coat and satchel and nods to Robert as he leaves. Robert for his part says nothing. He heads down the stairs and out the door and walks to the end of the block. He Betty through the window of the café. He raps on the glass lightly.

She looks up, with a smile, that fades as she takes in his expression. She stuffs her laptop into her briefcase and joins him outside. “That bad, huh?”

“I kind of sunk myself. I brought up my own juvie record.”

“Juggie…”

“I know, I know. I am a terrible interviewee.”

Betty wraps her arms around him, “I love you.”

Jughead’s phone starts to ring and he picks it up. “Hi.”

“Jughead, it’s Robert Loew from Mayhem. I just wanted to call to tell you thank you for your honesty and you got the job.”

Jughead exhales then manages to put together a few words “Thank you!”

Robert laughs on the other end of the line “We’re a mystery and crime publisher after all. Your criminal knowledge will probably serve us well. As long as crime is something you’re no longer pursuing.”

“Definitely not!” Jughead says enthusiastically. Betty’s staring at him in confusion, having only heard one half of the conversation.

“Come back in and sign our contract. You’ll start Monday.”

“Perfect!” Robert ends the call and Jughead stares at Betty with disbelief.

“I got the job.” Before he can even see Betty’s reaction he lifts her up into a hug. 

He feels like he’s floating for a second. Betty’s been making a good income for a couple years now, and even with the twins and their ever expanding list of after school classes, she is able to support them financially without it being particularly stressful (it helps that they’ve both learned a lot about penny pinching in their first year in the trailer).

Jughead hates feeling like dead weight, even though Betty’s made it clear that he’s not. He’s the one who chauffeur's the kids around after school while she’s still working, and he has a bar-tending gig five evenings a week. He’s been applying to jobs for ages now, but the kind he’s a good fit for are particularly hard to come by.

It doesn’t help that half the town still remembers when he used to lead the Serpents. They’d talked about moving but it was tricky with the kids in school.

Jughead had asked Betty to marry him three times now. Not in the big buy a ring, cover the apartment with flowers and candles sort of way, but in the casual, so maybe you will consider being my wife kind of way. Each time, including three years ago, she had said soon.

Over the last year, he hasn’t asked her, not even once. Instead he set a goal in his mind, the goal of getting a real job. And now he had it, now he could ask.

 

\---

 

Betty’s full of adrenaline when they finally make it to the bar. Robert is already there waiting for them.

“Sorry we’re so late.” Betty says as Robert gives her a hug. He and Jughead have been working together for almost eight years now, and he’s become one of their closest friends, even if it’s hard to find time to see him more than once or twice a month.

“It’s fine. Did the twins slow you down at the mall?” Robert asks.

Jughead has a twinkle in his eye. “Actually, it’s a pretty funny story.”

“I don’t know if I would describe it as funny yet, in a couple of years it will be.” Betty says with a groan.

“What happened?” Robert asks. He’s already ordered their drinks so Betty takes a sip of her red wine and forces herself to take a deep breath. It’s all over now. It’s time to relax.

“We were shopping at the mall for a little bit before coming to see you. First, we were with the twins and then they went off presumably to buy presents for us, but we were still too early to come here, so we were looking for presents for them.” Jughead says.

“Naturally.” Robert did not look particularly engaged with the story so far. And why would he be, this was all set up.

“We were walking through the food court,” Betty says, “when I saw a man grab a purse off the back of this lady’s chair. Jughead saw it, too.”

“So I ran after him, tackled him to the ground, and Betty grabbed the purse to return to the women.”

“Wow.” Robert says.

Betty laughs “If that was all that happened, we wouldn’t have even bothered telling you this story, and we wouldn’t have been late. What happens next is that mall security shows up and because the lady whose purse was stolen saw nothing, and the man who had stolen the purse was denying everything, and claiming that Jughead attacked him, mall security pulls up Jughead’s records.”

“But they’re sealed. They wouldn’t see anything” Robert says.

“Yes. But then one of the mall cops remembered Jughead. It is an unusual name after all, as being the leader of the Southside Serpents.”

“The Southside Serpents?” Robert asks, a little confused. Betty sometimes forgets he’s not from here, and the Serpents are now long gone, dissolved into nothingness.

“It was a biker gang.” Betty says. Robert might know them well, but this part of their past he doesn’t really know. Besides, it was so long ago it would feel strange to say our biker gang but it was theirs for seven years, before the kids came around and forced them to re-prioritize.

But they’re not going to be able to keep this from him anymore given where this story was headed.

“I led them for a while, I mean we both kind of did.” Jughead says with a shrug. ”I was a legacy, and a kid, and still trying to sort my shit out.” Robert looks shocked. He’s only known the version of them that owned a house, and were engaged and then married. He knew of Jughead's criminal past in only an abstract way. Certainly not as anything Betty was involved in. “Anyways, the mall cop put two and two together and suddenly I was the one who they were looking to arrest.”

“That would have been a hard one to explain to the twins.” Betty says with a wink. Re-telling the story is making her calmer. Or maybe it was the wine she’s drinking it much quicker than usual.

“So what happened?”

“The video footage that Betty forced them to review cleared me.”

“That’s great.” Robert says with a sigh. “Your afternoon was way more exciting than mine.”

“Ours was a little too exciting for my taste.” Betty says with a smile. Jughead puts his hand over hers and squeezes it.

“Our lives used to be a lot more exciting, baby.” 

“Apparently.” Robert says. “I can’t believe I’m stuck with the boring version of Betty and Jughead. I can’t believe you kept the fact you ran a biker gang from me for years.”

“We don’t think about it much anymore,” Betty says with a shrug.

“It was another lifetime.” Jughead says. “Thank God.”

“I can picture you running a gang,” Robert says, pointing at Jug.”Betty, not so much.”

“I used my approachable and conservative appearance to my advantage a number of times. I even got Jug out of police custody once.”

“How the hell did you do that?”

“I played the innocent girlfriend card to create a fake alibi.”

“You had to have been there to realize how impressive it was.” Jughead says, dropping a kiss on to Betty’s shoulder.

“I’m very glad I wasn’t. I’ll stick to publishing crime rather than covering it up.” Robert says, but he’s smiling.

Betty looks at her empty wine glass. It’s finished and she doesn’t even feel a buzz. It must be the adrenaline.

“Still glad you hired me all those years ago?” Jughead asks with a wink.

“Absolutely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So grateful for the feedback i've gotten so far. 
> 
> Please share your thoughts with me!

**Author's Note:**

> I am very thankful for any and all comments. I am going to try and post part 2, Inside, relatively soon. I've never really written something like this, so I'm rather nervous.


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